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Bud Becker
Springerville, AZ
Interview: March 31, 2011
The Beckers and how they got to Round Valley and the Blue
Bud Becker is a businessman in Springerville. He was the fourth generation to operate Becker Petroleum, a family owned business, until it was sold in 2005. He now dedicates his time to another fourth generation endeavor, which is ranching. His forefathers were pioneers in Round Valley and have contributed to the settlement, growth, and economic stability of this part of the White Mountains. Bud has a fascination for the past history that built the White Mountains and he shares many incidents from his family’s history and their first hand experience with the wild west.
Bud was born July 6, 1954 in Springerville. His great-grandfather was Gustav Becker, his grandfather was Edward Carl Becker (E.C.), and his father was Gustav Edward Becker. The Beckers established stores in the Springerville area in 1875 and have maintained many businesses from generation to generation.
My grandmother, Grace Mae Ross was born in Pinos Altos, NM and lived in the middle fork of the Gila River up in Iron Creek above Snow Lake. That is my mother’s side of the family. Then they came to Alma, NM and Blue River country. I have roots that go back a long way in a lot of directions.
My mother was born on the Blue. Her name was Virginia Johnie Johnson. Her family was among some of the early pioneers. Bill Johnson was my grandfather. They came to the Blue around 1878 or ‘79. That was the time the whole area here was being settled.
My great-grandfather was Gustav Becker, and he had two brothers. The oldest one, John, ended up coming over to relatives who were living along the Rio Grande River in Las Lunas, NM. One of the relatives had a store. John decided to put his own store in at Belen, NM, so he got two of his siblings to come out to the southwest from Illinois. They had just come from Germany, so they went into business with Gustav in Belen. They had a store, John Becker and Brothers, that included a telegraph office, a post office, and the Indian Agency. It was a hub type of business. They worked there for years.
There were big bands of sheep being driven over from eastern New Mexico and western Texas in the summer time. The herders would stop at the store. Many times they would talk about Valley Redondo, which was Round Valley. They said it had water running through it and it was just a gorgeous place.
John’s two younger brothers decided to go out on their own. That was my Great-grandfather Gustav and his brother Julius, and they decided to come over here to Valley Redondo and put in a store. So evidently there were a few people here. They said that they were mainly Spanish families and sheep families.
The brothers purchased a piece of property near the airport here in Springerville and put in their first store. That store was actually washed out by a flood from the Little Colorado. They had to move up on the bench. Then later on, they realized that Springerville was not going to be on that side of the river, so they moved to this side.
ROUND VALLEY—THE CHANGES THAT TOOK PLACE THAT BUILT ROUND VALLEY INTO A SAFE AND ECONOMICALLY PROSPEROUS COMMUNITY.
Fort Apache helped make this area inhabitable
There is a whole lot of history in this area that I think is being overlooked, such as Fort Apache making it possible for people to come here. That was something to earn a living from. Some of them farmed and some of them hunted, and they furnished meat for the fort. They raised their families. Then of course, the Mormons came in the 1880’s. The population grew from there.
Very few people have looked at the archives at Fort Apache. All the crops and commodities from Round Valley went down to the Fort to feed and support soldiers and Indians and the growing community. People bought and sold down at Fort Apache. A lot of it went through my family. My family had the store here. My great- grandfather would actually contract with people for their crops at the end of the year, to haul down to Fort Apache. He would be somewhat of a broker or a go-between for the Fort and the people that were growing. He could estimate what was going to be grown, how the crop was going to be, then they could go down and work a deal with the Fort to furnish so much grain. Fort Apache worked on a bid basis later on, because after settlements grew there were people from Snowflake, Springerville, and Show Low who were growing things and they would compete for the Fort’s business. So the Fort was real important to this area and the reason why people came here.
When the people came here and farmed, there were three families who were probably the most instrumental in expanding Round Valley. They may not have been the first but they were second and third. They were the Milligans, the Longs, and the McCulloughs. Those three names came over here from the Rio Grande River, NM, right after the Glorietta Pass fight in the Civil War. The Confederates tried to go up the Rio Grande River and the militia put a stop to them in Glorietta Pass. These guys were a part of that group. They decided to come over here and farm and to produce products for Fort Apache. When they came over here they brought large stones from the Rio Grande River and they built a water wheel and it was a grist mill to grind wheat for everybody.
Another Change: Cattle Coming In
As time went on in the 1880’s, the whole area started changing because cattle were being brought in. Before then there were mostly sheep herds. Cattle are handled differently. Sheep are a band and they are grazed, and moved through the country a little bit at a time. Someone is constantly with the herd. Sheep are dealt with differently than cattle. If you were a rancher and were in the cattle business, men would bring out a thousand head of cattle, and turn them loose. Then they would go out the next fall and gather everything that they could find. But until then, these cattle were on their own.
In the 1880’s when cattle came here, things started to change. Cattle were not only a commodity for Fort Apache, they were a commodity to be sold everywhere. Big herds of cattle came in. There were cattle from one side of Arizona to the other side of New Mexico. The first cattle that were shipped out of here for sale to other locations were trailed to St. Louis, Missouri. Then as the railroad advanced it was Amarillo, Texas. There were a lot of cattle that came out of this country and driven to Amarillo. I have some stories about men that were on the drives.
My great-grandfather had a partner that had one of the first ranches in this whole area. His name was Ed Sherlock. He and my Great-granddad, Gustav Becker were partners. In one year, between the two men, I believe it was 2400 head that they shipped out of here. They had sixteen cowboys go with them and it took them a month and a half to get back to Amarillo, Texas to the railroad.
Commercial sawmills and the railroad
As the railroad advanced, it changed the country, as it did everywhere. Our nearest railhead was Holbrook and a place called Adamana. Then eventually there was a spur brought down to what is now McNary. At that time things really started changing, because there was technology, there was machinery, there were trucks, and there were starting to be cars. A man from Louisiana named McNary came in and started the saw mills. Then they brought in the railroad just to take care of the saw mill. There was a lot of lumber that left this country.
One of the first men to build sawmills on a commercial basis was E.I. Whiting. He first came in and set up a saw mill near Greens Peak. There are a lot of Whiting homesteads up there. He built a big sawmill there. The problem was that in the wintertime they just couldn’t work up there. The snow was too deep. So they moved down to Eagar. That was the old man, E.I. Whiting. His whole family prospered well for years off the saw mills. The saw mills played a big part in changing our area.
Automobiles, gas stations, and roads
My great-grandfather was a forward thinker. He embraced technology, he embraced the future. When he saw automobiles and tractors he just knew what was coming. Things started changing. My great-grandfather put in the first garage and car dealership in Springerville. It was called Becker Motor Company. He sold some of the very first cars. He told a guy that wanted to sell him some cars, to bring them out here. If your cars can get me up to the top of the hill (the mesa) I’ll start carrying your cars. Well the man brought a Studebaker, and another man brought a car called the EMF. They brought their cars out here and started up the hill. The Studebaker couldn’t make it, but the EMF did. So my grandfather started selling and carrying EMF cars. I’ve only seen one of these things once in my life, they are so rare. Later he carried other models, but he ended up with Ford Motor Company. He personally went back and had a talk with Henry Ford, Jr. not only to get a dealership, but to feel him out too. This was a time of men with different character than we have today.
He started carrying Fords in 1914. He became the first Ford dealer in Arizona. US Highway 60 was the very first highway through Springerville. He was very instrumental in trying to get it through. They wanted to take it up through Gallup and Route 66. Colorado wanted to take it through there. Wyoming wanted it. It ended right up here, US Highway 60. It was the first transcontinental highway in the United States. So the very first tourists, you might call them, came through here.
Also my great-grandfather had a garage and sold gasoline. He had wagons and teams of horses, and would go to Holbrook and get gasoline. He would take 100-gallon barrels (I have a couple of them), and would load them on the wagons and then haul them over there. They didn’t have trucks big enough to carry full 100-gallon barrels, so they would have to send horses and wagons.
In addition, the very first cars were shipped to Holbrook and he had to go there to pick them up and bring them down to Springerville. Some of the first Model T’s were brand new and they were a little hard to start. One had to be a pretty brave person to sit there and crank those things to get them started. So instead, they’d get their horses and hook the team of horses to the front of the car, and they would drag them around until these cars would start. When they got them started they’d head toward Springerville. So this is how they brought in the first cars.
My granddad and his family went all out to promote new roads because they were needed to give car owners some place to go, such as Springerville or the Salt River Canyon. The people were tired of horses and buggies. So they really promoted new roads. My family was involved in development of the Coronado Trail as well.
Highway 60 and the Salt River
My grandfather and his two sons also promoted Highway 60. One of my grandfather’s brothers was a civil engineer. He took on the job of surveying Hwy 60, especially through Salt River Canyon. When they first went there, there were no roads so they packed in all their equipment on horses from what is now Cooley Ranch over by Hon-Dah. My dad worked for him. They surveyed this side of the Salt River Canyon to continue the transcontinental highway. He wanted to go through that canyon because of the scenery. He thought it would be a plus. People would be drawn to beautiful scenery.
Others who made an impact
There is so much to this story that it is way beyond my family. There were so many people involved, such as the Whitings. They are not as well known today, but they were instrumental in the logging industry in this whole part of Arizona. Today they are a huge family. The Whiting Industries have the Whiting hotels, the Whiting service stations, and Whiting Express. That all started with E.I. Whiting and the sawmill. There are also the Phelps, the Rudds, and the Coulters. These people are not even heard of much anymore. They were the pioneers. They made it here, raising huge families.
Clay Hunter: Trapper-Outlaw-Pioneer
Another one that should be remembered is a man named Clay Hunter. His story is just unbelievable. He was flat out an outlaw but he was a good outlaw. He wasn’t a mean man. My father and Clay became great friends. Clay was much older than Dad was. Clay just took a liking to my dad and they spent a lot of time together. Clay was not only an outlaw but he was from the past that we just hear about. His first recollection in life was buffalo camp. His father was a man named Bill Hunter that hunted buffalo for a living. Bill knew Wild Bill Hickock. He knew Batt Masterson. He was involved in Kansas City, Missouri when it was the wildest place in the world. I believe Clay knew Butch Cassidy. My dad believed that Clay had come from the Hole in the Wall Gang, but there was no proof.
The stories and the things that Clay did are amazing. I’m the only one left that knows about Clay. I can’t believe that. None of it is written down, it is all just oral. He was a trapper. He trapped the wolves out of our country almost single handedly. The reason was that there was a bounty on them. That is what happened to our wolves, and mountain lions too.
Clay was such a character, he dabbled in everything. He had a place in Springerville called “Hunter Hall” where he put on moving pictures. They were the talkies, you know, where they had to play the piano. He was one of those kind of guys that had his fingers in so many things and yet he was so colorful.
Clay Hunter came over to the Becker ranch one night and just before he got there Dad heard a shot. Clay finally came in after a little while. He had killed a doe for camp meat. He asked for a tub. So he took an old tub and he skinned that doe out. He mixed up oak leaves, ashes, a little bit of lye, and something else. He tanned the hide and he made this coat for my dad. It’s all hand stitched. He made everything from the hide. The buttons are rolled-up raw hide. I’ll never put anything on it. He had some left over and he made this rifle scabbard.
To show you his character, one time Clay was working for Monte Slaughter from the PS Ranch (Alpine). Monte had some horses that he knew were stolen but he had Clay riding one of them. There was a posse going through the area looking for some outlaws, and they ran into Clay and he was riding a stolen horse. He wouldn’t tell them anything, wouldn’t say a word. He went to Yuma prison for two years, in 1900 and 1901. He spent two years in Yuma prison because he wouldn’t tell them where that horse came from.
Mr. Becker is going through a room of collectibles from the past and is telling us their story:
Here is a letter to my dad from Clay Hunter. He was giving him a knife that Ben Lilly made. Ben made it and gave it to Clay Hunter. Clay gave it to my dad.
I just found these pictures the other day. There is Ben Lilly at my grandmother’s place. There he is at the other ranch when he came through with his pack of dogs.
This is the grinding stone that was in the first gristmill I told you about. This rock was brought from the Rio Grande River. This was for the fine grind for the oats and wheat.
Here is a picture of Chief Alchesay. This man is the last White Mountain Apache Chief. His name was Alchesay. He was a very great friend of my great- grandfather. He used to come up here and visit him. My great-grandfather would go down to their camping area and become involved in business with him because he was the chief of the tribe. He was the last chief. Now they have a Tribal Council. Until he passed in about 1900, he was the chief. He was a great man. My grandfather knew him personally and spoke very highly of him. He was very educated, and was a logical person, a definite leader. My dad remembered him quite well.
One little story about Alchesay was passed on to me by my grandfather. There were two Apache tribes, which were actually one; they were the San Carlos Apaches and the White Mountain Apaches. There was constant fighting, constant stealing. Some of them would come up and steal the others’ horses, and then some of them would go back and steal double. A number of times they would have disagreements and squabbles. The Post adjutant at Fort Apache would try to get them to come and talk and make peace.
One day a man from Fort Apache came to my great-grandfather and told him that Alchesay wanted to see him. So my great- grandfather took my Grandfather Ed, age six, and they went down to White River. When they got there they went into the adjutant’s office. On one side were the White Mountain Apaches and on the other side were the San Carlos Apaches. They had rifles. They were standing there staring at each other and mumbling. It was a pretty tense time. Alchesay met Gustav at the door and said, “I wanted you to be here because I want proof, I want witness”. Much of this peace-making had taken place before, but it had never been completed. Typical politics! So basically he was there to be a non-partisan observer.
Old newspapers showing several articles:
Dedication of the obelisk remembering Gustav Becker
The obelisk on the Post Office grounds in Springerville has a bronze picture of my Great-grandfather, Gustav Becker. It was unveiled May 30th, 1940. It took an act of Congress to put that obelisk there because it was on Federal land. It was put there and sponsored by a man who was the Supreme Court Justice, Levi S.Udall. He and the Dean of the ASU Law Department came up and dedicated it. I have the original manuscript of the speech written by Justice Udall.
My great uncle
Here is a picture of my great-uncle. President Truman was a buddy with this man. He was my grandfather’s brother and my great-uncle. He went to school and roomed with President Truman. Truman came once to a dedication. I have letters, a stack of letters, written by Truman to my great-uncle.
Salt Lake: a historical gem that is over looked
Around us are places that just have so much history. I cringe sometimes because some of it is being lost. Salt Lake Crater is one of them. North and east of us between Springerville and Quemado, NM there is a place called Salt Lake. It’s a volcanic crater out there that literally blew out of the ground and left a hole. When it blew, it hit a vein of salt. This thing has been sitting there for eons of time. People have harvested that salt forever. The Zuni Indians own it right now. I have actually looked at the maps in the archives in Santa Fe of the Conquistadores. That lake is on those maps from the mid-1500’s. It was and is a place where the Acuna Indians, the Zuni Indians, and the Hopi Indians go for ceremonies to this day.
We’ve been over there quite a few times and walk up the side of the volcano, and we go down into the crater. There is a lake in there that is about 200 yards across. It is crystal clear water and we go swimming. It’s very salty. It’s so saline that you can hardly sink. There are brine shrimp there, little bitsy shrimp. It’s out in the middle of nowhere. Very few people visit but the history is unbelievable. There are some old ranches around it. The Cox family has been there for a long time. Salty John Cox had a ranch up there. The scenery is unbelievable. There are huge sandstone bluffs, and this little old man put a rock house right back into them.
Directions: To get in there from Springerville, the fastest way is to go to Red Hill, NM. From the house that’s on the side of the road, you go another two or three miles. There is a dirt road that crosses the highway. (If you go right you go to Luna.) Turn left and go north, and you will go out through some ranches and canyons. It is beautiful country. You’ll eventually come to an intersection of Salt Lake Crater. All the Indians in this country for eons of time, my family, and wagon loads of people would go over there to get salt for their animals. The salt was taken to Fort Apache. It was harvested. There is history there. Just north of there about eight miles is a small community called Fence Lake. The Coxes are still in the area.
Conclusion: I can’t believe that I, instead of my dad, am here telling you these things. It’s down to my generation. I want to do my best to pass some of this history on. I am very proud of my family. They were instrumental in a lot of things. They were good honest, hard working people. All I am doing is telling their story. I didn’t make it up. I’m the person that is at the end of the line, like all generations of man for eons of time, I’ll pass along what was given to me.